Hey y'all! Welcome back for the next chappie for Chasms of Sixteen. Well, we're almost up into the forties here number wise with the chappies that is. I think it's a good sign of course. I'm really looking forward to after the Chunin Exams when Jiraiya will show up. So, let's just say I have plans for after this arc finishes up. Hehes
I hope you all enjoy what happens this time. Please remember to favorite, follow, and leave some nice reviews.
Chapter 37: Swan
The fight goes pretty fast. Yoroi's entire attack basis revolves around draining his opponent's chakra which Lee doesn't have any accessible paths to. Lee kicks him in the head once, ending it. The next fight is between Gaara and Haku. Radiating immense amounts of killer intent before even stepping down to fight, Haku notices this and gives up. Most of the fights are rather uneventful. Gaara, Lee, Neji, Kankurou and Shino all pass without a problem, Neji and Shino finish off Haku's 'team', Kankurou takes out the remaining member of Kabuto's team. The sixth fight is Temari versus Zaku.
"Come on! I have to fight a weak little girl?" Zaku exclaims, facing off against Temari. She smirks.
"Are you so sure I'm weak?"
"Heh, pretty much," says before he asks. "How 'about this then. To even the playing field I'll let you have the first shot!"
He's way too cocky for his own good, Kin thought in annoyance of her teammate, knowing it'll be detrimental to Naruto's plan if her teammate gets himself killed out of stupidity.
"If you insist," says Temari, gathering her chakra, deciding that this moron is going down to even dare calling her weak.
Before he can react, he's lifted two feet off the ground by a blast of wind. Temari sends him flying back to slam against the wall. Bringing her partially open fan back down she has one single moon revealing itself from it.
"that's what's called a warning shot," she says, a sadistic glint in her eye. "When all three moons are revealed then you lose."
That bitch! Zaku thought, embarrassed and angry as he can hear that Inzukua laughing at him while Kin is giggling under her breath.
"Impressive, bitch. Now to get serious!" Zaku shouts, readying his sonic attack.
Temari is able to use her wind to cancel out most of Zaku's sound waves. Though a few manage to get by, leading to cuts in her shoulders. The second moon is shown. Zaku sends out another, bigger attack as Temari has only been cut the last time because she's been taken by surprise. This time she's able to completely block the attack, swinging her fan out fully. Everyone's sight is blocked as Temari summons a whirlwind. The dust settles shortly after for her is gone. Before Zaku can ask where she is, he gets hit by a gust of wind from above. Temari seems to be flying above his head. Soon, he loses in much the same way Tenten has in the original timeline, his back broken over her fan. No one catches him when she casts him off. Though he's being carried away by the medic nins. Taking her position next to Gaara, she receives an appreciative nod from her younger sibling in acknowledgement of how well she has performed. The praise flatters her, giving a small smile. The next fight is between Hinata and Tenten.
So, this is Neji's younger cousin, huh? Tenten thought, looking at her opponent as she seems stronger somehow than Neji has described, seeming to be more sure of herself, definitely as she holds herself gracefully, almost like a dancer who's about to begin her main show. From the looks of her, I might actually have to fight…
"Haijime!"
Tenten shifts her arms, feeling the concealed weapons shifting. She'd loosens them before the match begins of course. Hinata settles back as her stance shifts to allow her to move suddenly if the need arises. She's not planning on attacking first, her style being better for taking out an opponent who's attacking her, rather than actually charging someone to take them out. They spend about fifteen seconds. It seems almost like an impossibly long time for a ninja, just observing each other. Suddenly, Tenten vanishes for Hinata to turn her Byakugan on full force, swinging her head around swiftly to scan all around her including up and down. She spins as the kunai and shuriken fly towards her, deftly dodging every one. Using her new reflexes and the trajectory of the weapons, she sends a faint chakra pulse in the general direction of what might of been Tenten's location. It won't do any harm to Tenten, but it'll make her easier to hit and track. Hinata has already found out that if she leaves a chakra 'marker' on something then she can send out slashed of chakra that'll zero in on the marked target, focusing on the specific pattern unique to the marking signal. She barely catches Tenten, the kunoichi having almost gone out of the edge of her cone shaped chakra pulse. Hinata doesn't have the chakra reserves to just blast the area with chakra pulses hence the more calculated and exact strategy she's using. If she hasn't improved her speed and reflexes though then she might never been able to catch the now elusive Tenten. Fortunately, she has with having taken Naruto's feedback to heart, becoming strong enough to combat here with these Exams.
"Sorry, but that strategy isn't going to work against me," announces Hinata, becoming determined to win.
Tenten has probably been taught it by Neji just in case something like this might happen, since it won't be useful against any advanced Hyuuga who's capable of using the chakra spin. Any attacks that don't deal a massive amount of brute power will be deflected set aside. Other than that, the only way to take out an experienced Hyuuga is to kill or knock them out before they ever are aware that the fight has even begun. Either that Or to hit them in their blind spot which is pretty hard to hit. Tenten comes to a rest on top of the Hokage statue, not reacting to Hinata's words.
"So, you manage to dodge a few kunai and shuriken. That isn't going to save you though," retorts Tenten, letting two of her weapon scrolls drop into her hands.
These aren't the ones used for the Twin Rising Dragon technique of course, but they do have weapons advanced enough to take out this kunoichi hopefully. Hinata begins dancing out of the way of the weapons once again. Though this time she does something unexpected. Using her chakra, she latches onto several weapons, turning them around to launch them at Tenten. She doesn't bother marking them since she doesn't want to reveal her technique so soon, so if she manages to dodge the weapons will just slam into the wall behind her. Tenten leaps out of the way. Hinata's eyes follow her every movement even if she doesn't move her head, before the heiress begin moving too as Tenten comes in closer than she has before. Hinata sprints, going as fast as she can. It isn't that fast by shinobi standards though it's fast for a member of the normally stout Hyuuga and for a rookie genin. She's definitely faster than Tenten, focusing on weapons more than she does on taijutsu and speed. Tenten throws more weapons at her while Hinata uses her chakra to snatch a dagger out of the air, spinning around to move under the other weapons. Tenten has been sticking to the wall in order to maintain distance between herself and Hinata. Thus, she can only keep from getting backed into a corner by trying to slip past the Hyuuga heiress. It's a nice try, but it doesn't seem to work.
Hinata spins again, catching Tenten's arm. The weapon mistress pulls a katana seemingly out of nowhere. Though Hinata recognizes the activation of a seal on her right wrist, causing the sword to poof into her hand. Hinata brings the dagger up, increasing its sharpness, length and strength with her chakra, literally using the dagger as an extension of her arm. The katana that Tenten has pulled is obviously custom made by a master. Hinata has been taught how to tell a good sword from a bad one, among other things, as a part of her training. This one is purely amazing. In addition to the fine edge along with the obviously high quality of the metal showing in even higher detail by Hinata's Byakugan, it's quite intricately detailed for it to be a work of art as much as a weapon. The tsuba (hand guard) is carved as a dragon coiled around the sword itself. The handle is weirdly enough, pure black with a carving of a kunai in gold, covered with pink silk in the normal triangle pattern. The blade itself is also beautiful, shining blue in the light. It has a design of a dragon beautifully detailed on it. Though this one looks a bit more dangerous than the one on the tsuba. The kanji for kaeri chi are carved in the blade. It means spurt of blood from one's victim.
Creepy thing to have carved on a sword… Though I guess it fits for a ninja who specializes in weapons, Hinata thought, blocking yet another swing from Tenten with her chakra enhanced dagger.
She isn't very good at using weapons though. So, she is losing ground. She's been instead using the time to scrutinize Tenten including her sword with her Byakugan, looking for any possible weaknesses. Luckily for Hinata, Tenten sucks at short range in comparison to her long range abilities. This is proven when Hinata lashes out with one hand, hitting a pressure point in Tenten's wrist, causing her to release her grip on the sword. Hinata drops the dagger, following up with a second hit with her other hand. This time, she hits Tenten in the shoulder, blocking one of the tenketsu. She still can't actually make them out very well. How she compensates is by memorizing the locations of the more major ones in the joints, chest, arms, legs, and a few of the other important ones. Due to it being memorized, she doesn't have the accuracy of Neji or the other, more adept, Hyuuga, but it's enough to hopefully throw off Tenten's aim.
It does have one immediate effect. Tenten is much slower to react with that arm unable to defend herself as Hinata catches her still active arm. Yanking her forward and down while the Hyuuga spins around behind Tenten, she uses chakra to knock the other girl's legs out from under her. To her credit, Tenten doesn't go down easily. She expels chakra violently from the bottoms of her feet, pushing back towards Hinata. The other girl manages to avoid being slammed into, spinning partially out of the way even though Tenten still manages to throw her balance slightly off.
The weapons mistress is doing very well for being out of her element, having actually trained in taijutsu a few times with Lee and Gai. She takes advantage of Hinata's balance loss, kicking back in a slightly sweeping motion. She's able to trip the girl, Hinata's persistent hold on her preventing the girl from being able to dodge effectively. Tenten is taken by surprise when Hinata turns her backwards fall into a back flip, letting go of Tenten to send the other girl sprawling to the floor.
Tenten leaps to her feet as Hinata twists around, managing to end her mid air acrobatics facing Tenten. Tenten activates the seal on her left wrist, pulling out a wakizashi before slashing at Hinata. The girl deflects it with chakra, effectively using her hand a shield. Tenten takes the Hyuga by surprise when she suddenly flings the short sword at the other girl, using the distraction to leap away to ready her Rising Twin Dragons scroll. This one is harder to beat than she's originally thought to expect. She isn't nearly as strong as Neji or as experienced, but she clearly has a better head for strategy as she knows how to adapt her unique style to her opponents instead of using the same set of tricks over and over like the rest of her family.
Slamming the two scrolls down on the ground, she speeds through the hand signs. Hinata recognizes the chakra patterns for a summoning jutsu s she gathers chakra to either dodge or block the upcoming barrage. Tenten leaps into the air, throwing the two scrolls as she goes. They twirl around her in a spiral as she twists and turns within them like some kind of dancer, her hands touching the scrolls lightly to come away with deadly weapons. Hinata dances out of the ones she can while she uses her chakra to deflect the others. The spin she gets from dodging actually adds to her ability to block, much like how Neji spins for the Heavenly Spin. She uses strings of chakra rather than sheets of it. Moving from place to place instead of standing still to be aimed at, she pauses when Tenten lands, having run out of weapons. Hinata snaps to attention when her Byakugan picks up the shining of light on metal thread behind her. Tenten yanks on the nin wire, pulling the weapons back towards herself.
Time to use my new technique, Hinata thought, spinning to face the majority of the weapons as she brings her hands up in front of her with the middle and index fingers extending.
Her finger tips glow with chakra as she rapidly moves them in front of her, weaving a web of chakra to catch the oncoming weapons to cut any nin wire it comes into contact with. The attack blocking most of the weapons as Hinata is able to dodge or specifically deflect most that get through, but about two shuriken and three kunai hits her. Luckily all the bigger and more dangerous weapons have been taken out by her net. Hinata winces as she raises a hand to one of the wounds. There's a kunai in her right shoulder, both shuriken have hit her legs, one kunai has hit her chest, and the last one has embedded itself in her left arm. Tenten smirks, knowing that it'll be hard for Hinata to use her techniques with the wounds she's received so far.
"Well, looks like the heiress of the great Hyuuga clan hasn't managed to live up to her clan name if she's beat so easily by a few kunai and shuriken," taunts Tenten, fairly confident that she'll win this.
"The battle isn't over until one of us is unable to fight," replies Hinata, the beginnings of a smile creeping onto her lips as she'll have to use her ace in the hole apparently.
Tenten is taken by surprise as Hinata yanks both shuriken and all three kunai out of her, coating them with chakra before flinging them at Tenten. It isn't that Tenten hasn't seen her moving. It's that she's never thought that the Hyuuga will be so stupid as to try that. Tenten really is surprised when the kunai and shuriken change trajectory midflight, heading right at her. She begins to dodge them, but they swing back around.
What the hell? Tenten thought in astonishment. There's no way she can be using nin wire that accurately without me being able to see it!
Tenten sees more weapons heading for her out of the corner of her eye. She isn't able to stop and catch her breath as the ten or so weapons chase her around, hounding her every step while changing direction midair to follow her. If they've been normal, she won't have had any problem at all. But these won't stop zeroing in on her. Tenten has been pushing herself hard to move fast enough to not be hit by Hinata's earlier attacks, causing her to tire out quickly. Luckily, Hinata brings the weapons to a halt before they stab her, pointing at her throat, heart, and other vitals as she stands there panting for breath.
"I give up!" Tenten announces, seeing there's no hope of her prevailing through this.
It's clear that Hinata has more endurance than her, or that whatever technique this is, taking up less energy than dodging it does. She doesn't feel like being stabbed by a bunch of kunai and shuriken if she can avoid it. Her surrender is accepted by the Procter as both she and Hinata walk off to the balcony again.
"Those are some pretty cool techniques," Tenten says to Hinata. "I've never seen anything at all like them before."
"Oh, thanks!" Replies Hinata, heat rushing to her cheeks lightly to coat them in a brush of pastel pink. "Your techniques are good, too! I've never seen anyone below high jounin level use a sword like that before!"
Tenten smirks. "Well, maybe I can train you with weapons and you can help me with ninjutsu! I've never really gotten much training, since I'm not from a ninja family… Gai-sensei isn't good with ninjutsu. Plus, even if I don't ever really use ninjutsu, it'll be nice to know how to fight it."
Hinata nods, thinking this is a good trade off. "Okay. My techniques can really be improved if I used a weapon since I don't have the endurance or skill to take on more than one or maybe two opponents at a time. Having a weapon will mean that I can conserve chakra for getting into position to attack, using jutsus like the one I used to beat you and increasing my speed to dodge."
The two girls keep on talking, their conversation strays to Neji and other Hyuuga clan members. Tenten is fairly curious about her enigmatic teammate while Hinata needs someone to talk to who'll talk back (certain people aren't very good about replying) or isn't overly biased, doesn't have ANDHD (main problem with Kiba and who won't randomly decide to kick Neji or whoever's ass for being a bastard. (Yet another issue with talking to Kiba. Everyone's attention turns over to the exam proctor as the next match is given the announcement.
"The next match is between Uchiha Sasuke and Kinuta Dosu!"
Oks, that's the end of chappie thirty-seven. I hope you all enjoyed. The next one will be out shortly whenever I have it finished being revised. Hopefully that won't be too long of a wait for it though. Until then, please remember to review, darlings!